Latitude e4200 fan noise - how to turn it off!

Thanks! That tools shows the CPU is running at 800MHz as well.

Ok, so that was not the problem. The problem is Dell and most likely the hardware then. Bummer!

 

What CPU temperature range are you getting? Is the fan running because there is too much heat or is it running because Dell haven't been very clever with the fan operating rules in the BIOS?

It is worthwhile trying different BIOS versions since the fan operation rules often get changed but are not mentioned in the revision notes.

John

 

The CPU temperature is currently listed as 42 C and the fan is running.

How do I know what is the reason for the fan running? (To much heat or Dell issues?)

The computer does not seem hot when I touch it. I would not mind having the computer running a bit warmer and the fan running a bit less...

I am running BIOS A05.

Dell was here today and exchanged the motherboard. That did not seems to help, rather the opposite, the temperature is listed as higher now and the fan is running all the time..

 

Mobilemeter is another application which draws a nice graph of CPU temperature so you can see more clearly when the fan turns on and off.

However, I fear that the underlying problem is that common to many of the thin notebooks: The cooling system needs to have the fan running to be effective. Also, I think, the Intel ULV CPUs tend to use nearly as much power as undervolted normal CPUs. See my Toshiba R500 review for some comments about the U7600.

Probably all you can do is to nag Dell to change the thermal rules in the BIOS which so that the fan runs less often. Ideally, Dell could borrow a Samsung idea to provide a keyboard hot-key control to reduce fan noise at the expense of higher temperatures. Am I right in thinking that the CPU is soldered on the board, so a board swap means a new CPU? In that case you could easily have got a hotter one. I wonder what the CPU power consumption is. You can get an indication by seeing the change in battery drain power when you change the operation from idle to full load (running wPrime (2 threads) or similar). Does that difference exceed Intel's thermal design power of 10W?

John

 

My e4200's fan is also constantly on. Fn+Z doesn't help, I am going to monitor the CPU behavior and various temps via Everest and see what exactly it is doing.

 

Another solution is to install W2K8R2 server and customize it like a workstation. The e4200 is less noisy than with Vista X64 SP1.

PS: all components are well working (including 3G module with sony ericsson wireless manager)

 

Which would definitely point to the power settings as being the culprit. Perhaps Win7 will have the same effect. I will install it and see how it goes.

 

So you are not using Dell Connection Manager for the WWLAN/3G-card? Where did you download the software and is there something else you need to do?

Is it better than the Dell Software?

 

I think it's more stable than DCP Connection Manager.
You can find the Sony Ericsson software by searching "wireless 5530" on the dell support page: http://ftp.us.dell.com/comm/DELL_WIRELESS-5530-HSPA-MINI_A00_R198215.exe

 

Update to my issue with the fan.

Dell was here again and changed the following:
Motherboard
Heatsink
Fan

They noticed that there was not a lot of heatsink thermal paste between the CPU and the heatsink so that must have been a problem that the guy installing the last motherboard did a mistake with...

So at least now the cooling should be working. The Fan runs quite a lot still but now at least it should be quite if I just leave the computer running.

I can somehow accept the fact that the fan runs when I use the WWAN since that gets quite hot.

So I am not happy-happy with the current situation but I hope I can live with it... The E4200 does have a fan for a reason and it will start from time to time.
I wish they could have designed one without fan or with at least somewhat better thermal performance so the fan would only run when the CPU is under heavy heavy load.